Darren.

I have 5/0 round bend worm hooks, but I can't remember when I last used them. Normally I'll use a 2/0 - 4/0 for TX rigging. But I've also gone down to a 1/0 for finesse. I've caught some nice bass on smaller hooks.

That...sucks. Dang.

Interestingly, I've found plenty of "slack-line" sensitivity with braid + leader. When a fish hits the bait on the hook tied to a leader, tied to slack braided mainline, I can feel it. When it is a good hit. Obviously I cannot feel the fish breathing on the bait.... But I've been happy with this method so far.

Odd post, for sure. Either he's dull, or simply wasn't thinking straight (beer?) when posting. I suppose in some lines of work, the more money thrown around, the more bumps happen........ But fishing?

Welcome!

Welcome aboard, Steve!

Drips are normal, hence the drip rings, which don't stop the drips entirely. You could certainly get a longer paddle, it would probably help. You are likely having to lift each side of the paddle high to compensate for the higher sides of a canoe. A longer paddle would help you there.

Josh, the best braid is the one YOU like the best. Given most of it is pricey, you may not try many brands. For me, I settled on regular Power Pro (in yellow), over several others I've tried. It is all dependent on how you fish and such.

Never called it yard fishing, but yeah, I cast n' retrieve in the yard often enough!

Curious, is YUM discontinuing the Dinger? I went to BPS web and they don't list them. Then to yumbaits.com, clicked on "worms" and "There are no products matching the selection." I know they are at TW, but it is still odd to me... http://www.yumbaits.com/baits/worms

I was a Senko-only guy for a while. I branched off into Yum Dingers, and BPS Stick-Os... I like the pour of the Dingers, and I caught some bass on them, but I've pretty much settled on the BPS Stick-O, especially when on sale 3 for $10. The Yammies definitely have a softer and subtler shimmy to them, but when I decided to try the Stick-o, I found they worked extremely well. Now if Yammies are on sale, I will score a bag or two. But they are cost-prohibitive for me. BPS version has proven extremely good. Don't have a problem with the Dingers, but for some reason they didn't "stick" with me....

Guess I tend toward the lighter side of worming. I have really liked my cork-handle Shimano Compre spinning rods, but most recently I've really been liking my BPS Carbonlite rods. Just exchanged (no Q's asked) my M/F 6'6" (became 6'2" after dog stepped on it) casting rod for a 6'6" ML/F casting rod and WOW, what a difference. For casting, currently, my fave is the new 6'6" ML/F with a Shimano Chronarch 50e. Amazing, light combo.

You could obviously hit the famous "auction" site, or check TW as they've got the NEW Ballistic in stock. Could also give Valley Sports (sponsor) a call and ask if he can get them, and what he'd charge for each...

Good stuff. My wife and I like shows like this.

I look at it differently. It is expensive, and I don't want to lose large amounts of it to snags, which I've had plenty of. So the leader compensates for all that, breaks off, saves my "investment" in braid. I've fished it straight, and straight but colored the first few feet with a black Sharpie. Have caught that way, but really prefer the leader route.

Welcome aboard!

And that's just *another* 10+ pounder to her credit!! I would not want to compete against her...glad I don't fish tourneys.

Absolutely 100% better than typical green for visibility. I use Yellow PP on all my reels + leader.

Probably because Penn is primarily marketed to the salt water fisherman...

I think of "weedless" hooks less as "no more weeds" and more "not getting stuck on stumps and such quite as often". Personally, for wacky I prefer smaller profile hooks. I never use TX rig style hooks (round, o'shaughnessy, EWG) for wacky. I know some do, and that's their preference. Fav hooks for wacky include Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse (sizes 4 - 2/0), Gamakatsu Split/Drop shot (sizes 2 - 1/0). I make my own "weedless/snag-less" hooks using some 20 pound coated Malin wire snelled + drop of superglue + shrink-wrap.

Take your pick between the reels. Just make sure YOU like the one you pick. We are all biased toward a particular brand, so just get what you like better. As for pros/cons, I can't really give you a con because I have not found one *other than* the smaller reels tend to have much lighter drags. HOWEVER, I have *never* found that to be an issue. The extra drag you need is called your "hand" - put it on the spool to slow it dow A huge pro is like what slimshad said, lighter, more comfy. Another pro comes with using braided mainline -- I use 10# Power Pro which has diameter of 2# mono. I get more than enough line on my 1000 reels than necessary.

Was one of the things that got me to try BPS fluoro. I like it a lot, though my use of fluoro lately is "not much". It is a fine leader line.

I'm not in the "norm" of people who use 2500 size and above for bass fishing. I actually prefer 1000 size reels and have never had an issue with bass up to 7 pounds in all manner of situations. The 6.6 lber in my avatar was caught in slop, flooded bushes and trees with a Stradic 1000FI, 10lb braid, 10lb leader, FWIW. That said, you can take your rod to a local Bass Pro (if you're near one - and perhaps other stores will let you do this, too) and try different reels on the rod until you find one that is comfortable and balanced to your liking. I'm partial to Shimano reels, and I really like my Daiwa Lexa 2000. The Lexa is a bit heavier than I like, and I might've gone for the 1500 size instead. That reel can be had right around $100 online. Is an excellent reel for the money. Good luck.

I'm with Long Mike. Braid is much easier -- in my experience -- to pick out, given that it doesn't damage like mono, FC, or copoly. I have had to cut out some of the other line, but don't believe I've ever had to cut out braid. Now I only use braid for mainline on all my reels, spinning/casting, and leaders for each (don't do straight braid).

Ya never know what they'll hit on! I caught a 2.3 pound crappie on a TX rigged Fat Ika once. Completely unexpected, but awesome.